A question for Iacobucci

(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Interesting point about former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Frank Iacobucci, who has just been named by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to review the documents on the Afghan detainee controversy that Parliament ordered released last December.

He was on the bench when the top court decided one of the most important cases dealing with the question of parliamentary privilege.

The case is from the 1990's and I have written about it previously.

In the decision CBC v The Assembly of Nova Scotia, Justice McLachlin wrote, and Justice Iaccobucci signed on to, the finding that included this paragraph:

" In summary, it seems clear that, from an historical perspective, Canadian legislative bodies possess such inherent privileges as may be necessary to their proper functioning.  These privileges are part of the fundamental law of our land, and hence are constitutional.  The courts may determine if the privilege claimed is necessary to the capacity of the legislature to function, but have no power to review the rightness or wrongness of a particular decision made pursuant to the privilege."

It would be interesting to find out if the government plans on asking Justice Iacobucci if the government has the right to ignore an order of the House.  It would be even more interesting to hear his response.